ALBUQUERQUE – New Mexico cities could have to pay significantly more money to comply with the Affordable Care Act when the law’s “Cadillac Tax” for expensive health plans takes effect.
The Albuquerque Journal reported that starting in 2020, the law will impose a tax on high-cost insurance plans. Estimates for Albuquerque show the city could be paying as much as $4 million by 2024.
Those concerned about the tax say it could result in employers offering workers less expensive plans with higher deductibles or reducing what services are covered.
NEW YORK – Zika virus ravages the testes of male mice, sharply reducing sperm counts and fertility, says a study that raises a new specter about its threat to people.
Experiments found testes of infected mice shrank about 90 percent by weight, while their output of useful sperm fell by three-quarters on average, and often more.
Now it’s time to find out if Zika causes similar damage in men, experts said.
“We just don't know that yet,” said Michael Diamond of the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, a senior author of the study.
BAZWAYA, Iraq – Iraqi special forces stood poised to enter Mosul in an offensive to drive out Islamic State militants after sweeping into the last village on the city’s eastern edge Monday while fending off suicide car bombs without losing a soldier.
Armored vehicles drew fire from mortars and small arms as they moved on the village of Bazwaya in an assault that began at dawn.
By evening, the fighting had stopped and units took up positions less than a mile from Mosul’s eastern border and about 5 miles from the center, two weeks into the offensive to retake Iraq's second-largest city.
Three suicide car bombers had tried to stop the advance before the army took control of Bazwaya, but the troops destroyed them,the Iraqi military reported. The army said another unit had moved toward Mosul and was about 3 miles from its eastern outskirts.
ISTANBUL – Turkish police detained the chief editor and at least 11 senior staff of Turkey’s opposition Cumhuriyet newspaper on Monday, a move that signals a widening crackdown on dissenting voices.
Editor-in-chief Murat Sabuncu, cartoonist Musa Kart, the newspaper’s lawyer and several columnists were detained, some following raids at their homes, Cumhuriyet reported on its website. Police had warrants for the detentions of 16 staff members, according to the left-leaning and pro-secular paper.
The detentions involving Cumhuriyet – one of Turkey’s oldest newspapers– come amid accusations by opposition parties and human rights groups that Turkey's government is using the state of emergency imposed following a failed military coup to clamp down on all government critics.
Associated Press
